A fireman checking the river along Jalan Sungai Burung at Kg Mas Mas in Tawau for a man who went missing after a crocodile attack.
KOTA KINABALU: Wildlife rangers have killed five crocodiles in efforts to secure the safety of people living in areas where recent attacks occurred.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the rangers were focused on larger crocodiles in specific areas as they hunt for reptiles that attacked people in the Kota Belud, Lahad Datu and Tawau districts.
"We already shot four crocodiles in Kota Belud and one in Lahad Datu," he said on Monday (Oct 23), adding that no crocodiles have been killed in the Tawau area so far.
He said the slain crocodiles were not believed to be involved in the attacks but still posed a threat to people in the area.
Over the past month, three suspected crocodile attacks were reported in the three districts and the victims have yet to be found.
In the first case on Sept 22 in Kota Belud, 20-year-old Yusri Dulpi was attacked while fishing at a jetty in Mantanani. The search was called off after 10 days and he is still missing.
In the second case on Oct 15 in Lahad Datu, 50-year-old Salim Sakka went missing after a suspected crocodile attack while mending his fishing net by the river in Kampung Sungai Silabukan.
In the third incident in Tawau on Oct 19, a man identified only as Asdar was believed to have been snatched by a crocodile while fishing at a river in Kg Mas Mas.
In Sandakan, Civil Defence Force (CDF) personnel captured a 2m, 80kg crocodile in a drain at Taman Megah Lorong Jaya 3 on Oct 20.
Amid increasing human-crocodile conflict in recent years, Sabah's wildlife rangers have been walking a tightrope between conservation and ensuring the safety of riverside communities.
Shooting of crocodiles is only carried out in areas where they pose a threat to residents.
The Wildlife Department has also carried out awareness campaigns with riverine communities on the dos and don'ts, with talks conducted and pamphlets handed out containing precautions in the event of a crocodile encounter.
Experts have said the increased attacks on humans could be caused by habitat loss as well as dwindling food sources, especially large prey like bearded pigs that were affected by the African Swine Fever outbreak.
